Weekend

After having a "less than fun" day with students on Friday (was it a full moon or something?), I came home and decided that I needed a Brothers & Sisters nap before I did anything else.  Then I threw a temper tantrum while I was on the phone with Matt because the wiimote batteries were dead and I had to get out of bed to go get more.  I proceeded to growl breathe on the phone with Matt for a few minutes until he wisely said something along the lines of, "Oh man, I'll see you when I get home.  I'm going into a dead zone." Fortunately for him, I was asleep by the time he got home (like 15 minutes later).

But then when I woke up four hours later, I realized that I'd caught the cold that he'd spent the whole week fighting, and then I was super pissed.  So I went to Target to pick up my cure for a cold, a bottle of Simply Grapefruit juice (this cure is 90% placebo effect and 10% vitamin C, but it works pretty well) and some fancy cough drops (I am a cough drop addict, as is my dog).

Then I wasted my Saturday away taking approximately 12 more Brothers & Sisters naps, drinking another entire Simply Grapefruit juice, making some tasty chicken noodle soup, and pouting because my cold cure had failed.  This morning I finally changed out of the clothes I was wearing on Friday.  I haven't taken a shower in seven weeks.

Suckfest.

The good news, though, is that I had a freezer full of popsicles, and I found a water bottle at Target that is basically just a sippy cup for grown-ups that I could prop up against a pillow so that I could just roll over slightly to enjoy some nice, cold water.  And the weather was out of control perfection, so I had all of the windows open and enjoyed the nice breeze.  And tonight I got super inspired and attempted to make some mini pumpkin cakes. They're delicious, but I definitely didn't have the right pans, so they look kind of like hobo cakes.  Oh well.  I'd rather have delicious ugly food than disgusting beautiful food.  Right?  Right?

 Brothers & Sisters nap #9.

 If Simply Grapefruit doesn't work, maybe Ben & Jerry's will?

New laundry baskets make me happy.  Also, I am old.

Mitch loves the smells of fall. 

 Totes super glued my fingers together.

 It's all very Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Well, shoot.

Here's to a new week, getting rid of this stupid cold, and more open window days.

Weekend Fun

Man oh man I sure did need this weekend.

Here's something that definitely falls under the category of "good problems to have," but when you have two months off of work, and then your first two weeks back are the hardest that you have all year, you will be f'ing exhausted.  The kind of exhausted where your entire body aches and you're too tired to fall asleep quickly.  But it's all good, and most people don't have the good fortune of having two months off of work each year, so I'll deal.  Just don't be mad at me for being such a slackass with posting.

So this weekend was about sleeping, and watching it rain other places while it was gloriously sunny here.  And more sleeping (definitely took two separate naps yesterday).  And Dexter ellipting dates with the Matt.  (PS--you will ellipt very quickly when you are watching Dexter and feeling like you're running away from evil serial killers.)  And not one but TWO trips to Mexico (we're very big into traveling).

Here's what it looked like.

 Dog made himself an earthquake shelter.  We tried to tell him that we were safe, but he was having none of that.

 High class lunch. 

 We'll see just how idiot-proof growing basil is.  Our house is, after all, the place where plants come to die.

 Lest you begin to think that Matt is the cool one in our house, check out his fantasy football research.  

So happy to have a working dryer.

 Trying to keep Mitch from stealing gum right out of our mouths.

And, finally, it's essay-grading hell month.  Until my juniors take their graduation writing test on September 27, my school bag will look like this.

Fortunately, I've got some help.

Hope you stayed safe, that you have electricity, and that you're not swimming around in your own house.  (Unless, of course, your house has a swimming pool in which case I am extremely jealous of you.)

Weekend Fun!

Ahhh. . .what a lovely weekend it's been.  It was both restful and productive.  The weather was fantastic, the dog was as cute as ever, and, while we didn't really leave the house much, we had lots of fun. 

Grading essays kind of sucks, but it sucks less when you get to sit in

The Lagoon and look out the window at this cuteness.

Graded papers.

Dinner visit with our three favorite girls.

Husbands who are ellipting fools.

DELICIOUS chicken fajitas.*

And I don't just want to leave you with pictures and nothing else.  We made a really tasty marinade for our chicken, and it was a hit.  Here's the recipe for the marinade. 

Fajita Marinade for Chicken

Ingredients

Juice from three limes

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 jalapenos, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients.  Put into ziploc bag with pounded boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Marinate for two hours or more. 

*Operation: Skinny Unicorn folks.  Each one of these fajitas was 6 points.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  I ate three.

Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride. . .

Thanks to all for your kind words yesterday.  After some phone chats, a few indulgent Target purchases, a dog, a husband, and baking a LOT of cookies (So many that I actually forgot to eat dinner.  I don't think that's ever happened.), I'm feeling much better.  And it doesn't hurt that it's Friday, and the sun is shining, and I was insanely productive at work, and within the hour I'll be in Mexico with friends. 

I am determined to have a good weekend, even if that means convincing myself that it's fun to deep-clean the house and grade essays.  It's looking like I'll be able to do it with the windows open, at least.

Happy weekend to you!  Any big plans?

Blah.

You know that saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all"?  Well, I kind of half-way subscribe to that.  I mean, I'll be the first one to rant about Teen Mom, and I love to gripe and complain about stuff.  Who doesn't, really?

But I've noticed on other blogs and Facebook (oh, the evil Facebook), that when all people do is bitch and moan, I begin to lose interest and/or judge them more and have to fight off the temptation to be all, "Shut up with your whinin' and complainin'!"  So I have a little rule for myself on Facebook and the ole bliggity blog, which is that I have to have an 8:1 ratio of positive stuff to negative stuff.  (Yes, I did pull out the thesaurus for this post.)  I don't want to be phony or misrepresent our life or anything, but I don't think people come here to read passages where I act like a little baby not getting her way.

That said, this has been a pretty sucky week.  Work has sucked, lots of home stuff has sucked, the weather has sucked, and I'm tired and cranky and sad and kind of sick but not sick enough to call into work.  And life is sucking even more for many of those close to me, which is extra super sucky* and just makes me more sad (and more annoyed with myself for being so down about my own small problems).  I've been in the mood for the last couple of days where I just want to find the most sad movie that I can, and I want to get a loaf of sourdough French bread and a plate of cookies and a box of wine, and I just want to sit and cry until I can't cry anymore so that hopefully it'll be out of my system and I can get over it already.

But there's work to do and papers to grade and houses to clean and taxes to file, so I need to soldier on for a couple of more days.  And if I'm still feeling like a whiny baby, then I'll go watch Blue Valentine or that rabbit movie where Nicole Kidman loses her kid and I'll ugly cry until I'm out of tears.  But you probably won't hear about that.  Unless I can find eight happy things to tell you about first.

So, you'll hear from me when I poke my head out of the other side of this mess.  In the meantime, I'll leave you with something delicious, an oldie but a goodie, the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie.** 

*Apparently it's not a very good thesaurus.

**There's one.  Now I just need seven more happy things.

Happiness Is. . .

We had a lovely weekend here at M Cubed.  It was not really exciting or anything (our weekends rarely are--which I just love with my heart and soul.  It makes me so happy to answer the "What are you doing this weekend?" question with "Uhhh. . .nothing."), but it was peaceful, and full of food, and friends, and husbands, and dogs, and wine, and more food. 

Oh, and the green team won the Super Bowl, which was good because a few months ago I bought a baby a hat.  

And even though it was complete torture peeling myself from the comfort of my bed on this cold, rainy morning, well, I have to remember that I've got lots to be happy about lately.

Like Justin Bieber.  I think I love him.  Not in a creepy way or anything, but he cracks me up.  And I'd be a damned liar if I didn't admit that I kind of love his hair.  Did you catch this skit on SNL a few months back?



Oh, and don't read too much into that, what with me being an educator of high schoolers and all.  Nothing is more revolting to me than a teenage boy. (Riggins from Friday Night Lights doesn't count because he's not actually in high school.  Plus, I find Coach Taylor much more handsome.)  Just thought I'd mention it. 

I also love my new cordless mouse.  Why did I wait so long to get one of these things?

And I love having two whole days that I don't have to worry about grading essays. That vicious cycle begins again tomorrow.  Shoot.

And I love this season of Big Love.

Here's some more awesomepants awesomeness from the weekend.

Phony baloney strawberry milk.  I love everything about it.

Completely destroying the kitchen to make strawberry milk cake.

 

And then forgetting about the cake and overcooking it.  Mother F.  Oh well.  Now I'm not tempted to eat cake all week at least.

More Toasted Coconut Ice Cream.

Rosemary chicken salad.  (And having ingredients separated into bowls.  Why do I love it so?)

Lizard buddy who lives out in the shed and is determined to stow away with the laundry.  (I would love him a lot more if he didn't scare the bejeezus out of me every time I saw him.)

Wrapping myself up in my new faux fur blanket from Target. ($12!)

And receiving sweet dog kisses.

Futile attempts to convince the dog that his fur fur is not enough and that he must cover himself with faux fur.

Sweet inquisitive dog face.

Father-son fetch/tug-of-war game, which is so much more fun while sitting on a chair with wheels.



What's warming your heart lately?

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

Alright, alright.

So, this is the first part of a three-part series that will culminate in my new favorite dessert.  (Yeah, I know I've got a penchant for hyperbole, but this dessert is at the highest level of delicious desserts, in my [not terribly] humble opinion.)

Now, I'm not even going to try to lie to you and act like this was some quick 30-minute dessert that you can whip up to take to a pot-luck.  Nope.  It's not.  It's a labor of love.  But it's also totally worth it. 

This weekend, I had a giant folder full of papers to grade, but it was beautiful outside and I had all of the windows open and I was listening to music and everything was right with the world, and I didn't want student papers to sully my perfect afternoon.  And making the house smell like toasted coconut only made that afternoon more perfect.

So here I bring you Toasted Coconut Ice Cream, again by none other than Mr. Lebovitz.  Now, I know that not everyone is BANANAS! for coconut, including Matt. (Who also doesn't like macaroni and cheese.  What's wrong with him?)  And I know that the texture of coconut can be off-putting, which is part of why this ice cream is extra awesomepants.  Matt--hater of coconut, husband who spit out my Pecan Praline Ice Cream--even liked this one.

Because, see, once you toast your coconut. . .

. . .You heat it with milk and then add vanilla bean (I used vanilla bean paste) and let it steep for an hour.

(Doesn't it kind of look like soggy cereal?) 

And then you strain the coconut, so you get all of the coconut flavor goodness without having the coconut texture. 

After that, you just take some regular ice creaming steps.  You know, eggs and sugar, more straining, heating, chilling, etc. 

But when you're done. . .OMIGOD.  I wish this blog could provide those tiny little spoons so that I could give you samples so you wouldn't just have to take my word for it.  And I wish that I wasn't going to keep all of this ice cream for myself because it's just that good. 

When you're done you'll feel, at the same time, like a kid on the last day of school, and like a grown-up relaxing in a tropical paradise.  (Which is pretty much the best way to feel, ever.)

So here's the recipe, including Levotitz's introduction, which I really liked.

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop

I’ll admit that my favorite selection from the shiny white Good Humor jalopy that cruised our neighborhood was simply called “Toasted Coconut”: vanilla ice cream on a stick, coated with lots of sugary-sweet coconut.

On the last fateful day that I’d ever see the Good Humor man, the bully next door decided to spray him with water from a hose as he slowly circled our block. He beat a hasty retreat and never came back. Being blackballed by the Good Humor man made that the worst summer of my life. I don’t know what happened to the neighborhood bully, but now that I’m an adult I can have Toasted Coconut Ice Cream whenever I want. And I do.—David Lebovitz

Ingredients

1 cup dried shredded coconut, preferably unsweetened
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
Big pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
5 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 1 teaspoon rum

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring it frequently so it toasts evenly. Remove it from the oven when it’s nice and fragrant and golden brown.

2. In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, 1 cup of the heavy cream, sugar, and salt and add the toasted coconut. Use a paring knife and scrape all the vanilla seeds into the warm milk, then add the pod as well. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

3. Rewarm the coconut-infused mixture. Set a mesh strainer over another medium saucepan and strain the coconut-infused liquid through the strainer into the saucepan. Press down on the coconut very firmly with a flexible rubber spatula to extract as much of the flavor from it as possible. Remove the vanilla bean halves (rinse and reserve them for another use), and discard the coconut.

4. Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy cream into a large bowl and set the mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm coconut-infused mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

5. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Mix in the vanilla or rum and stir over an ice bath until cool.

6. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.